Thunder defense in clutch situations, statistically, is arguably the worst in the NBA

It’s pretty funny how stats work. If you work hard enough and continue looking, you can almost always find a statistic to support whatever it is you’re trying to prove. So stats, generally, are a thing that should be taken with a grain of salt.

That being said, there are certain statistics that hold more weight than others. One such set of statistics are the “per-100 possessions” statistics.

Traditionally, we have measured statistics on a per-game basis (points per game, points allowed per game, etc.), however, with some teams playing the game at a faster pace than others, the per-100 possession statistics became the gold standard for most, as it takes into account the fact that different teams may place different paces.

With that said, the Thunder’s late-game struggles have been well-documented. For the most part, we’ve had the opinion that most of what ails the Thunder has been their offensive execution, however, it appears that the Thunder are the NBA’s worst team in terms of points allowed per 100 possessions in clutch situations.

This information is a bit troublesome, especially considering the fact that the Thunder are considered to be a plus defensive team. However, this intel is more or less consistent with what we’ve already know about them—the Thunder give up big leads. In order for a team to erase a big lead, the Thunder would need to both fail at scoring, as well as stopping the ball.

Still, it’s a bit startling to note that the team trails even the lowly Hawks when it comes to stopping teams with the game on the line.

Maybe it shouldn’t be that startling, though.

Believe it or not, the Thunder enter play on November 26 at 8-11, that’s really only 4.5 games better than the Hawks.

In fact, entering play on November 26, the Thunder are just one of 13 teams to have losing records.

At least with this, it becomes a little easier to recognize why.

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